Bloodstained Hair
by justlovely.bro
Summary: Tori Vega comes across the diary of Cat Valentine, explaining every secret she's ever had in five, short, sweet pages. It isn't anything the gang expected. On the last page, she announces she's run away, to look for the answers she was never given the liberty of knowing. She begs them not to give her away. And when they finally cross paths again, things change...more than expected.
1. Bloodstained Hair

On an unusually cold October morning, a girl walks swiftly down a path in a local park. Something on the side of the trail catches her eye.

A book?

Yes.

A diary?

Yes.

She sits down on a park bench and opens to the first page.

.

.

.

_Hello there._

_I see you found this diary._

_I hope my plan worked, and you are who I think you are._

_If you're who I think you are, then your name is either Tori Vega or Jade West._

_I want to tell you the truth about me._

_I'm not who you think._

_You can keep believing what you want about me and put this diary down where you found it._

_Or. You can turn the page._

The girl squinted in eerie confusion, turning the page slowly.

_One._

_I have no family. If you hear me mention my brother….he doesn't exist._

_When I was four years old, my family was murdered._

_How did I escape? I don't quite remember, but they tell me I was kidnapped. Maybe even tortured._

_And my parents? Those are my adoptive parents._

_I really don't have a brother. Really._

_But I do have scars on my stomach from the day my family was murdered._

_And I almost wish I DID remember, because I want answers._

The girl turned another page, refocusing on the writing in a red glitter pen.

_Two._

_When I was thirteen I started cutting myself._

_I would throw up after every meal._

_I would do drugs with my neighbors' son._

_I wound up in the hospital because I was so depressed._

_Because something had always been missing._

The girl turned another page. And it was this page with which she finally KNEW who this diary belonged to.

_Three._

_Why do I act the way I act?_

_Because it's the only way._

_To avoid doing the things I did when I was thirteen._

_I haven't cut myself since. But you can still see the scars._

_I haven't stuck my fingers down my throat. But I still remember all those nights passed out by the toilet, how weak and thin I became._

_I haven't even thought of doing drugs. But my neighbors' son still offers sometimes._

_So I act the way I act because it's distracting._

_But my hair is naturally that color. I'm not sure how._

_The color of blood._

Tori Vega sat there.

Cat?

Sweet, innocent Cat, she had a past. She had a story.

She turned one more page.

_Four._

_I'm going to run away._

_I'm going to look for answers._

_I don't know where I'll go, but you can't tell anyone, except the gang._

_I'll see you again someday._

_If you love me, you'll keep my secret._

_._

_._

_._

Tori Vega started crying.

She pulled out her phone calling Cat's phone.

**The number you are trying to reach is now out of service.**

She dialed a different number.

"Beck? I need you to come pick me up. It's important."

.

.

.

Tori Vega sat in her living room, and finished reading the diary pages aloud to the gang.

Everyone seemed pale.

Tori was still crying, and Robbie was already basically sobbing.

Andre looked at the floor, and even Jade eventually broke down.

They didn't speak of trying to find her. Because they didn't know where she'd go. They didn't know the real Cat.

They would see her again alright.

Exactly one year later.


	2. Not stealing, just living

**Hello, to any reading! **

**Just wanted to mention that in the coming chapters, Cat will be VERY OOC.**

…**..that's about it for the intro note.**

**Oh yeah, and the disclaimer.**

***insert disclaimer here***

"So, what do you guys wanna do?" Tori asked her friends, all sitting around her living room.

Robbie sat silently in the floor with Rex. Ever since Cat left, he barely talked anymore. Everyone had changed a little. Beck, who sat on one of the couches, drinking pink lemonade, went through a phase where he would sleep in so late he missed school. It was hard adjusting without their Cat. Everything they never knew about her had been dropped on them like a bomb.

Tori made red velvet cupcakes every Friday night, and Jade dyed the streaks in her hair red. Andre wrote a special song for her. Everyone was at a loss for what to say or think. So they just DID. Went through the motions, trying to function without their missing piece.

Their parents had all attributed it to their sadness, remaining clueless that the gang knew anything more than the authorities did about the disappearance of Cat Valentine.

"Tori." Jade said.

"Yeah?" Tori replied.

"Truth….or dare." Jade said, eyebrows raised.

Tori laughed. "Okay…..dare."

Jade's response was somewhat automatic.

"Give Trina all the money in your purse."

"Why would I do that?" Tori said, not exactly wanting to let go of seventy bucks.

"Because you picked dare!" Jade barked.

Tori marched over, taking her purse off the counter, taking her money out, and depositing it in Trina's purse.

"Happy?" She growled.

"Not really." Jade yawned.

* * *

The game went on, just as things were happening on the other side of town. Things like a car racing down the road at nearly 100mph, a head of long red hair sticking out the sunroof, screaming in delight.

Things like the car being pulled over. Things like three guys, a blonde, and that same certain redhead making a run for it, laughing all the way.

Things like Cat Valentine making her entrance back into town. No one knew yet, of course. But by the time Monday, also the one year anniversary of Cat's disappearance, rolled around, _everybody would know. _

* * *

Back in the Vega household, the gang was laughing harder than they could remember laughing, since before that day.

Even Robbie smiled as he turned to Beck.

"Okay, then. Truth or-"

"Dare." Beck said, cutting him off.

"Okay…..lick Rex's foot." Robbie said smugly, as if proud of his idea.

Beck just rolled his eyes.

"No way man. It's gotta be something better than that."

"Better? I thought that was good!" Robbie defended.

"Just _pick a different dare." _Jade said exasperatedly.

"Okay…." Robbie said. _If it's a good one they want, then that's what they'll get. _He took one look at the smirk plastered on Jade's face, and made up his mind.

"Kiss Tori." Robbie said.

"Do what?" Jade asked. She had risen from her seat on the couch, only to sit back down again. _Cool it Jade. You guys aren't dating anymore. Don't act weak. Don't act bothered._

Tori tried to avoid any situations that might encourage her feelings for Beck. It had been over a year since that Platinum Music Awards, but she still couldn't do that to Jade, as much as she was sure she was head over heels for Beck.

She started to protest the idea when Beck suddenly sat down beside her and pressed his lips to hers.

It lasted much longer than anyone intended. They finally pulled away, and Tori immediately excused herself to get more lemonade, feeling guilty.

* * *

Across town again, a certain red-head and her crew were rushing out of a convenience store parking lot, pockets as stuffed as their wallets.

Her love of candy had never been an act, and hey, free is free. So what if it was stealing, it was _living._

"Drive faster, baby!" She yelled to the guy in the front over the wind rushing in through the open windows. And he drove just as fast as he could make the beat up old car go.

* * *

Things were winding down at Tori's house as midnight approached.

It was Robbie's turn once again, as he turned to Andre.

"Truth." Andre said. They got to a point where they just stopped asking the question.

Robbie seemed to sober up the more he thought. And finally he had his question. A question that had been on every single one of their minds since that day.

"Do you…..do you think she'll…come back?" he asked with a shaky voice.

No one seemed to answer for a few minutes. But those minutes felt like forever to Robbie.

Beck sat, and for the first time in an hour stopped thinking about his kiss with Tori.

Jade sat, and for the first time in an hour stopped thinking about her ex kissing Tori.

Andre paced, not sure what to think, how to answer that question when he didn't have an answer.

And Robbie looked down, letting out a depressed sigh.

Finally Tori came over to wrap her arms around him, a tear running down her cheek as she turned and looked out the back door, looking up at the sky with questions in her eyes and on her tongue.

"No one knows, Robbie, no one knows."


	3. Kitty Hollace

**Hey darlings!**

**In this chapter we get our Cat back!**

…**.kind of.**

**Disclaimer: blah blah disclaim blah**

* * *

One year ago today Cat Valentine left town.

No one could forget that as the gang sat around their table in the Asphalt Café, an empty space where Cat should be.

Tori sat as far away from Beck as she could, still bugging about that kiss. She almost decided to just sit somewhere else, but that would be a little over-dramatic for her taste.

Their hopeless conversation died down for a moment, and in that moment they heard the thunder of a motorcycle….

No, three motorcycles….

And the screech of a familiar red-haired girl.

But the girl, who hopped off the back of a motorcycle and strode into the Asphalt Café, was not the Cat they knew.

Then again, the Cat they knew wasn't any more than an act….a distraction for her own mind.

She hung on the arm of a guy at least a foot taller and two years older than her. He was pretty rough looking, from his stubble to the tattoos across his muscular arm, to the chains that hung from the belt of his shredded jeans.

Now that kind of dress wasn't unusual for Hollywood Arts. It was seemingly the air around him that was different. It radiated to everyone who saw him that he, along with Cat's other companions, were bad news.

With them were two other similar males and a ditzy blonde wearing a corset with a jacket over it.

The gang rose from their seats, as if someone flipped a switch and gravity was pulling them upwards simultaneously. Their faces didn't yet show the shock they braced themselves for. Something was wrong, and they knew it.

Jade broke the silence that had fallen over the whole Café.

"Cat?" she asked, disbelief and a hint of question in her voice.

Cat strolled into the Café, her new 'friends' in tow.

"Hey babes." She stated, smacking a piece of gum in her mouth. She was closer now, and the gang grew even wearier at the new view the close-up gave them.

She had dark circles under her eyes. Her eyeliner was heavier than Jade's, and her lips as red as her hair. Her attire was not Cat-like. She too wore something similar to a corset. It wasn't, but it had the silky strings that crossed over her chest. She wore a dirty white jacket over the white….top….thing….she was wearing, and skin-tight black jeans. Her heels made her taller than they'd ever seen her, just another unfamiliar thing about this new Cat.

All in all, she looked a bit like a prostitute. Tori hated to admit this, but it was true. She wondered if she'd looked on the corner of every street for this past year, she may have glimpsed that red-velvet, fresh-blood color.

But Cat hadn't been anywhere near this town.

"Well, just take a picture then. It'll last longer." Cat said, taking something out of each pocket.

Jade didn't realize they'd all been staring, but she saw everyone refocus onto what Cat was holding.

She pulled a cigarette from the pack, lit it, and proceeded to inhale slowly.

If Cat could only feel Robbie's heart breaking.

Lane, the guidance counselor, walked up to Cat.

"I'm afraid, Ms. Valentine, that you can't do that on campus." He said, motioning to her cigarette.

"Oh, right." She said. "Here." She handed Lane her smoke and sat down at the empty spot around the table, between Tori and Jade, right across from Robbie.

"Hey babes. Miss me?" She said again.

Everyone was dumbfounded. Lane had simply stared at the cigarette, then at Cat for a while, before stomping it out and walking away, shaking his head.

Cat grabbed one of Jade's fries, popping it in between her blood red lips.

Her new 'friends' stood over by their motorcycles, laughing about something, and smoking anyways.

Finally someone spoke.

"Hey…..Cat." Tori gulped, greeting her old friend.

Cat laughed, a twinkling laugh, but without the spirit it once held.

"Oh, it's not Cat anymore. It's Kitty. Kitty Hollace." She told them.

Blank stares.

"Here. Let me introduce you to my friends." 'Kitty' said, motioning them over.

She pointed to the blonde. "That's Jenni."

Then the two similar looking guys. "James, Kevin. Fraternal twins. My babes." She said with a wink.

And then the guy she'd walked in with. He sat down beside her at the table.

"This is Jonas. Jonas Hollace."

More blank stares came her way, until Andre asked the question everyone had been thinking, _thinking, _but not daring to ask.

"So….are you guys…like…married, or something?" He asked in a tight voice.

Robbie had fainted on the table, and Beck was shaking him. _Wake up, dammit!_ He screamed in his mind.

'Kitty', laughed again.

"No, of course not. He's my brother." She giggled.

Jade raised an eyebrow.

"I thought you made your brother up." She snapped. She didn't mean to snap, but she herself was about to snap in two. This was NOT her Cat. NOT her best friend, NOT the innocent little girl that made her smile. Or at least made her stop grimacing. NOT the childish, foolish, fantastic girl who's day was made by a piece of candy, who glued a monster mask to Tori's face and had a bibble body guard.

"Oh, I'm not talking about the one I made up stories about." She said, yet another giggle sneaking past her bloody lips.

"Then who?" Robbie said, finally raising his head. He sounded tired, but he was just sad.

Just a little broken-hearted, that's all.

Kitty laughed as if it were obvious. "No. The one who was murdered."

* * *

**TOLD YOU SHE'D BE OOC.**

**Very.**

**I'm actually having a lot of fun writing this. That's why I'm updating so soon.**

**Now, I see traffic stats for this story, and then look at the review numbers.**

**So pretty please review! It makes me think I'm not doing a very good job. And if you DO think that something is missing, or something should be written differently, please (kindly) let me know!**

**Also, leave suggestions! I have a lot of ideas but I want to know what YOU guys want!  
Thanks babes!**


	4. 1621 E Hollace St

**Okay, here we go, next chapter :D**

**I appreciate the follows and reviews! Also, I know I get really annoyed when people ask me to go read their other stories or something, but I have this OC story and still need some OC's! Hate me if you want, but I wanted to tell you guys to check it out. Sorry!**

**Anyways, on with the story.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Victorious, I would be bragging about that fact all over the place. And it wouldn't be ending D:**

* * *

The day Cat- er….._Kitty _came back was a very long day. Because of the story she had to tell. Because of the shock that set over her friends. Because everyone was up thinking, thinking, and over-thinking, when they should have been sleeping.

After school they sat around 'Kitty's' living room. Her old living room. The one of her adoptive parents. Her parents were visiting relatives in Indiana, and had no idea she was back in town. She just got the key from under the mat, surprised it was still even there. After her disappearance, her adoptive parents got very cautious. She thought they would have gotten rid of any spare keys. But maybe they just had a hope that one day she'd come back.

Tori wanted so badly to tell her old friend to tell her adoptive parents that she was back. But she was afraid of the reply she'd get. She could only imagine the words leaving the read-heads lips.

_I'll be gone again before they're back._

Cat sat on one of the purple sofas, her brother, her REAL brother, Jonas, beside her. Jenni, James and Kevin sat on the floor by their feet. On the other sofa, Tori sat by Andre and Jade, while Robbie sat in the matching purple chair and Beck leaned against the wall, arms crossed. Jade and Tori inwardly forced themselves not to turn and look at him.

_Look at Cat, look at Cat, look at Kitty, WHATEVER. _Like a mantra, Tori ran this through her head on repeat.

"Alright Babes, let's do this thing! Get your popcorn now, 'cause story time may take a while." 'Kitty' announced.

And she jumped back in time, to the day she decided to leave. She told the story in a completely _normal _way. Not like the old cat, not like Kitty Hollace. She told it like someone that no one in that room had ever met.

* * *

**It was a split-second decision, really.**

**I got up that morning, did everything I usually did. Nothing was different until around six that evening.**

**I was going through my closet, looking for my Hollywood Arts yearbook from my first year there. I was up on the top shelf. I thought I'd show Mr. Longneck, the giraffe, some of my friends from back then. And then my hand hit a knob. At first I didn't know what it was. So, in my curiosity, I opened the little door at the back of the top shelf of my closet.**

**But, you know what they say….**

_**Curiosity killed the Cat.**_

**My wandering hand closed around a box, cardboard. It took up all the space in the secret cabinet. I had to tug a little to get it out, and I fell backwards. And when I pulled myself off the ground and onto my bed, I opened the box.**

**And I remembered. **

**I remembered **_**every single thing **_**I had hid from, stowed away in the bleakest corners of my mind, and the little secret cabinet in my closet. What I hadn't let myself dare to think of since I stopped cutting and doing drugs. Since I started acting like the Cat you knew.**

**As I pulled things from that box, it all started hitting me harder and harder.**

**My old razor blades.**

**The bands I wore when drugs and cutting got me hospitalized.**

**A few pictures I'd been given of my family.**

**A news article featuring the murder, and the murderer. His picture ran my blood cold. The look in his eyes sent shivers all throughout me. Before I knew it I had ripped the article right in half. I had to shut off my mind for a moment, reboot.**

**And then I pulled two more things from the box.**

**A few home videos from before. They were all labeled with a date. And I picked the one that was from eight days before they were murdered.**

**I sat there and half watched it. I cried as I was made to remember. To remember how happy I was. To remember how they all looked, how they all sounded. It hurt so bad to see the life I missed out on, the life I had little knowledge of.**

**And then it was the last item that made up my mind.**

**A piece of paper with an address.**

**I didn't know what that address was. Where it was. But in that second, I knew I had to find out, and finally stop hiding from my past. From myself.**

**So I took my diary from its drawer, ripped out the first few written on pages, and wrote you a note. I meant for Tori or Jade to get it because they were the only ones who walked through that park where it was found.**

**It was pure luck that Tori found it that night. The very night I left. The same day. Because after I wrote those notes, I started packing. I threw stuff in the bag, and ten minutes after finding the paper, the evidence, my bag and I were in the car I got for my last birthday I spent here.**

**And I didn't even look back. I just turned up the radio and eventually, I don't know when, stopped at a Holiday in somewhere. I googled the address. It was somewhere in Arkansas.**

**And so that was where I went.**

**But what I found there was simply just another clue.**

**Not the answer.**

**I drove and drove until I got to that house, stopping to sleep for a few hours at a time, eating maybe one big meal a day.**

**And then I pulled up beside a big, big house.**

**I was there.**

**1621 E. Hollace St.**

**My old home, the scene of the crime.**

**And apparently, they named the street after my family. But I didn't even remember that was my old last name until I saw the address on the piece of paper. **

**I didn't remember ANYTHING until I found that box…I didn't want to.**


	5. Nice to Meet You, I'm Your Brother

**Hey! I really love writing this story, but after this chapter it's going on about a week long hiatus. Only because I have so much to do. I'm going to be really busy, and if I do any writing at all, it's going to be for my OC story.**

**I know I asked you guys to take a look at that, and it's full now, so thanks!**

**Anyways, **

**DISCLAIMER: I DISCLAIM. The end.**

* * *

As Cat…er….Kitty, told her friends the beginning of her story, they shifted around the room. Of course they hated hearing about the trials their friend faced.

Kitty hadn't moved, hadn't lost her composure, and she told the story like she was reading from a book, but with more emotion crowded behind her mask.

Her new friends seemed almost bored, something her old friends didn't appreciate. Jenni had fallen asleep, falling over on Kevin, who took the opportunity to stare down her shirt like the perv he is. James just rolled his eyes, excusing himself halfway through the story to go 'light up and take a piss' in the backyard…

The gang had shifted around, done some pacing, some crying (coughROBBIEcough), so that now Tori and Jade sat on the couch, Beck awkwardly between them, with Robbie still sat in the chair and Andre now on the floor at Jade's feet.

It was nearing dark, and when she paused in her story, she looked up at them, and she looked….like Cat. Not like Kitty. Even with all the dark makeup, she looked almost innocent and airheaded again. She looked out the window and saw the darkening sky.

"If you guys need to go….I'll be in town long enough for us to talk again." She said, her voice soft a first, hardening again as she spoke.

Even though everyone was tired, it being such a long day, everyone slowly shook their head.

"No. It's okay. Finish your story." Tori said lightly. She wouldn't leave now, not for the world, after seeing a bit of the Cat they used to know shine through. It was gone now, and maybe it was all an act, but Tori couldn't help herself from thinking that the way she was is better for her than whatever this new…Kitty….was.

Kitty nodded, and shifted back to story mode.

* * *

**So, I pulled up to my old house. It looked abandoned, but that didn't stop me from trying to open the front door. I felt like it might magically swing open, creaking, like in a horror movie, but it didn't. I tried the back door, but that was also locked, and no windows were low enough to reach.**

**So I went to the neighbors. They weren't the same old couple I vaguely remember from when I was young, but they seemed nice enough.**

**I asked them what they knew about the family that lived in that house. It was a start. A frown appeared on the young woman's face, her husband leaving the room for us to talk.**

**I can almost exactly remember what she said…..**

"**It was terrible really. I heard that was such a kind family. Two little children, even. I don't know where those kids are now, but they must miss their parents an awful lot."**

**I nodded, and then my head snapped up.**

"**Wait, are you saying that both children made it out alive?" I asked, my mind reeling.**

**She nodded her head. "The little girl only spent one night in the hospital before she went into the foster care system. But the boy…well, honestly, for the longest time, the rumor was that he was dead. The doctor's report in the paper did say that he flat lined a few times. Turns out he slipped into a coma for a few days. On the deadline day, when they were going to pull the plug, he woke up. That's about all I know…"**

**And it really shocked me, to know that he was alive.**

**I thanked the lady, got a hotel room, and searched his name. Most things were just about the murder itself, but I finally came across one online article. It said something like…**

'**Jonas Hollace, seven year old victim of the Hollace Homicides, came to us for an interview on this ten year anniversary of the murders. The seventeen year old plans to get an apartment in the suburbs, and is holding a steady job at Vinny's Vinyl….'**

**Looking at the date I saw that it was three years ago. But I hopped in my car.**

**Next thing I knew, I pulled up at Vinny's Vinyl, this old music shop. The man at the counter informed me that Jonas no longer worked there, and gave me the only thing he had of him. An address. He said he didn't know if he still lived there.**

**The rundown apartment was also vacant, and I gave up my search for the night. I was out of gas, so I pulled up to a convenience store. I was walking out after paying, when these people ran out behind me. One knocked me over, and I saw the stolen items he was hiding in his jacket.**

**He turned around and helped me up, dragging me out the door with him before the cashier noticed.**

**He apologized, and then stuck out his hand, which I guess surprised me, that he was so formal after stealing.**

**I didn't get his name before he hopped in his truck with his friends and told me to follow him.**

**I don't know why I followed that stranger.**

**We pulled up behind a club. A guy walked out to meet us.**

**The guy who knocked me over introduced himself as Kevin, and his friends as Jenni and James. And then he pointed to the guy who met us outside of the club.**

**He was quite drunk looking, and he handed his buddies some fake ID's, apologizing that he didn't have one for me, since he didn't know who I was or that I'd be coming.**

**And then he said, "By the way, I'm Jonas Hollace. And you are?"  
**

And suddenly it was one a.m.

They don't know how it took that long, but it was.

Andre was sprawled out on the floor, looking up at Robbie, who stared blankly ahead. Tori was laid back on Beck's lap, and Jade rested her head on his shoulder.

Beck couldn't remember how they got that way, but they awkwardly moved away when they realized their situation.

Jonas hadn't moved at all from when they first got there, and neither had Kitty. James was asleep on the floor.

Kitty looked up at Jonas. "Where did Kevin and Jenni go?" she asked.

But they heard the banging and moaning from the other room and didn't need to be told. Didn't WANT to be told.

Kitty offered her friends a small smile, and then her mask went back on.

See, the thing is, her old mask was happy, this new mask is hard. If she went from mask to mask, where was the REAL Cat? Not Kitty, not bubbly, air-headed Cat. Just…..Cat.

"Anyways. You guys look dead. We can talk about this tomorrow. If you guys wanna skip, we can meet in the park at noon. If not, meet me here after school. Later babes." Kitty said as everyone left, blank looks on their faces.

* * *

**Okay. Next chapter is the third part of her story, the third and final part, but there will be like, five or so more chapters after that, so no worries.**

**This story is on hiatus until this weekend!**

**Thanks! Leave a review and tell me what you think.**


	6. A Rose by Any Other Name

**Hey :)**

**I found a moment or so to write the next chapter, but just a warning, as soon as this chapter is posted, this fic goes back on hiatus, because I really don't have much time, with having school and swim team and homework and still trying to find time to write my OC story.**

**Okay, so about how long this story will end up being….at first I thought it would be a one-shot when I first went to start typing the first chapter, but then by the time I was done with the first chapter I realized I couldn't just leave it like that. Then I thought, okay, five chapters. Then I thought, maybe more like fifteen.**

**Now I have made myself stick to around ten. No more changing my mind XD**

**My authors notes just get longer and longer :P Sorry. Now, on with the story!**

* * *

"So should we skip to meet her earlier?" Andre asked the group as they sat down to lunch, half an hour until noon, when Kitty said they could meet her in the park.

Their other option was waiting until after school to meet them at her old house.

"Well, I'm going now." Robbie said. Usually, Robbie Shapiro would be the absolute last of the group to skip school. But, this was Cat, so he made an exception. He hadn't taken well to how she's changed, but commented on her name that morning. '_So what if she wants us to call her Kitty? A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet.'_

Tori had thought that was the sweetest thing she'd ever heard the boy say, but Jade just rolled her eyes.

The group nodded in agreement, everyone getting up and walking off to the parking lot. They piled into Andre's Jeep, leaving Beck's truck at school.

The Jeep was filled with silence as the teens arrived at the park to see red hair swishing from one of the swings.

Her brother pushed her as she laughed a Cat-like laugh, and Tori saw why Kitty chose to be with her brother, even though he and his friends did some not so great things. She'd never had that. Never had that real family, never had someone to push her on the swings.

Kitty got off the swings as she saw the group get out of the car. Today, it was just her and Jonas, no Jenni, no Kevin or James.

She was wearing a red halter top with black shorts. She had red lipstick on her lips again, with more heavy eyeliner. The only thing different was that she seemed more like the old Cat they thought they knew. Maybe it was just this town that was drawing her back to the old game of playing pretend. Or maybe it was that she never had to work too hard to pretend. Maybe that happy, air-headed girl was always somewhere in there.

The group sat under a group of Weeping Willows. Kitty sat with her legs crossed and Jonas lay on his back. The rest of the gang sprawled out beside them in the soft grass. It was as green as Kitty's hair was red.

She didn't announce this time that she was going to start the next part of her story, she just started talking.

* * *

**It was the next day when I realized that Jonas was what I had been looking for. We'd had a long talk that night at the club, some alcohol involved, but we both still remembered it clearly. He told me what he'd been up to, even about how he googled me once….which I had to laugh at. Apparently I used to go by Catarina back when I was younger. Catarina Hollace. But everything online was about the murder. If he'd looked under Cat Valentine, maybe **_**he**_** would have been the one to find **_**me**_**…**

**Kevin and James had just started calling me Kitty right off the bat. Soon enough, I would find myself responding to that like it was my actual name. So I made it my name.**

**I can remember the second month I was with them….it was the month I moved into their apartment. Usually, I would take part in their activities. I would drink with them basically every day, sneak into clubs when I had to. A few times I woke up in some random stranger's bed. We never did drugs, except for at a few parties Jenni's sister threw.**

**I wouldn't do the stealing.**

**I would always ask myself if shoplifting was…me.**

**And it wasn't.**

**But then I realized I didn't really know who I was. That was the whole reason for me running away was to find myself, and maybe somehow these people could help me do that.**

**So I did what they did.**

**I stole, drank, stole, fucked, drank, stole, smoked, drank, partied, lied, and even got arrested for a week or something for DUI.**

**I still do that.**

**But even though it sounds stupid of me to do that….I started living.**

**I can remember one night on the freeway, on the back of Kevin's motorcycle….**

**My hair was blowing in the wind, and maybe it was the alcohol, but I realized I was happy. Some extremely fucked up kind of happy, but genuinely, simply, happy.**

**That has been my life since the day I found my brother. I know I'm not the same. I guess I have a lot of layers, like that onion metaphor or…whatever.**

**I can't help but wonder sometimes how I would be right now if my family had never been killed….**

**But a week before the anniversary of my leaving, I saw a girl who looked a lot like Tori in our favorite club, Poison Dart.**

**And I started thinking about my old home.**

**What did everyone think happened to me? I'd never seen a missing person's report on TV. And I **_**did**_** say I'd come back one day.**

**So I told Jonas I needed to come back.**

**Just for a little while.**

* * *

"And honestly….this is going to be the last time you'll ever see me." Kitty said as she ended her story.

She did what she promised, she came back, but…she never said she'd stay.

"Jenni, Kevin and James are already on their way back. When we get done talking, Jonas and I are leaving too. I just needed you guys to know that I will never forget how you were there for me. You'll never know how much you've all helped me."

The group sat with deadpan expressions. No one had anything to say. They were at a loss for words.

Maybe they never knew any part of Cat. Maybe it was best that she live her life as Kitty Hollace…

But then some-one made a split second decision.

Jonas looked across the street to the convenience store, busy with customers.

He nodded to his sister.

"Hey, Kitty. Can you go over and get me some smokes? I wanna thank your little friends here." He said.

Kitty nodded and walked off. The gang watched her until she disappeared through the doors, and then they turned to Jonas.

"Look. I don't know you guys. But I do know how happy you made Cat." He said.

Everyone seemed a little shocked to hear him call her that. But he just shook his head and went on.

"Ever since we came to this town, for the two short days we've been here, she's been different. I don't think she notices the change in herself, but I have. So….I want you guys to take care of her again. I'm going to leave without her, and I need you guys to promise me you'll help her find who she really is. Not Kitty, not even necessarily the Cat that you knew. Help her find Catarina Hollace…..

Look. I love my sister. I wish so much that I could be there for her. But the kind of life that I live….it isn't for her. I don't want that for her. I understand she's extremely talented, and I want her to be successful. If you were to ask me why I live this way, I couldn't give you a straight answer, and I know she couldn't either. The difference is that she still has a chance to change. I'm no good for her. So just promise me, _promise me. _Promise that you'll look after her." Jonas said. He was almost begging them. If the young man would have allowed himself, he would have broken down and cried. But he had to leave before Cat came out of the store.

Jade looked up at him. "And just what makes you so sure that she won't drive off after you again?" she said quietly; soberly.

Jonas stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled out a messy, crumpled sheet of paper with surprisingly neat writing on it.

"Give her this. I promise she'll stay. Just make her read it, and just please, protect her from herself." He said sadly. He looked up at the sky, down at the grass, and then walked to his motorcycle.

Just as he was about to drive off, Robbie spoke up.

"Hey Jonas!" He yelled.

The rough boy looked up.

"We promise!" Robbie yelled.

He nodded, and if the gang had been close enough, they would have seen a tear roll down his cheek.

And then he was gone.

The gang turned towards eachother. And, without looking down, just like in one of those cheesy movies, they all joined hands.

A moment later, they were sitting back on the grass, and Cat, stripped of her name by her brother, walked out of the store.

"Hey, sorry, there was a damned line-" she said, and then looked around.

"Hey…..where's Jonas?" She asked.

Tori exchanged a look with each group member. The note was in her hand. No one said a word.

With one look at Cat, Tori saw that the girl already knew what was going on. Maybe it was their silence that gave it away, maybe the fact that Jonas and his bike were nowhere in sight.

And by the time Tori walked over to the girl to give her the note, Cat Valentine, Kitty Hollace, whatever name she took, was on her knees sobbing; tears dripping into her blood-stained hair.

* * *

**Okay! We still have a few more chapters to go! Like, five. This story is back on hiatus, as I'm still really busy.**

**I feel really proud of this chapter, and I want to know what you guys think.**

**Please answer one (or all) of these questions in a review:**

**-How did you like this chapter? Rate it on a scale of one to ten.**

**-What has been your favorite chapter so far?**

**-How many more chapters do you think there should be?**

**-What do you think will happen next?**

**Thanks! I appreciate everyone reading :)**

**The more you review the more inspired I am to make time in my genuinely busy schedule to write XD**

**(PS: To whoever had the house number 1621, that is super ironic XD)**


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